


in the footprints of giants

by somehowunbroken



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alpha Timeline, Gen, Ladystuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-18
Updated: 2013-12-18
Packaged: 2018-01-05 01:36:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1088062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somehowunbroken/pseuds/somehowunbroken
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You might only be a high school student, but you know that something fishy is going on at Crockercorp. You just need to find a way to prove it... and Jade English's website just might be your answer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	in the footprints of giants

**Author's Note:**

  * For [astralDeveloper](https://archiveofourown.org/users/astralDeveloper/gifts).



> Written for Ladystuck 2013 for astralDeveloper. Prompt: _Alpha!Rose finding out about Alpha!Jade's anti-Condesce work and ideas, maybe through her own research or maybe Jade 'knowing' to leave clues behind? Either way, something with teen rebellious Rose finding out about this amazing anti-Crockercorp rebel/savvy businesswoman/generally awesome human eventually brought low by a tyrannical corporation. Maybe learning about Crockercorp and its various evils and/or, if Jade knew about her, Rose finding out she did and being blown away by it? Maybe Rose developing one of those cute onesided hero-worshippy crushes on the Jade she reads about, or just non-romantic admiration? But Jade being Rose's secret hero without them ever meeting, basically._
> 
> Hope you like it, astralDeveloper!

The problem with researching things that are incredibly illegal, you have found, is that it's difficult to find reliable sources.

You're a revolutionary. Well, of sorts; you plan to become one, anyway, because you know with more surety than you've ever known anything that Betty Crocker is the kind of bad news that's usually only seen in the low-budget horror films that your peers find utterly fascinating. Crockercorp has had a history of questionable business decisions over the past few decades, and while they're nothing compared to, say, the ones made by several technological innovators that you won't name, they're the kind of nothing that paints a very specific picture. Crockercorp has been slowly but steadily gaining power since years before you were born, and they'll soon be in a position to reveal that to the world at large.

Also, their boxed cake mixes are awful. There's just no excuse.

That brings you back to your problem, though. You've got the sense that your window for shining a light on Crocker's plans is closing quickly, and so far, the only person you've managed to convince of the impending disaster is Dave, the boy who sits beside you in English Composition and has yet to turn in a single assignment without an accompanying illustration colored with the most offensively neon markers you've ever seen.

You need firepower, is really what it boils down to. And to get that firepower, you need more evidence.

You hesitate at the computer for several minutes, trying to figure out how to get the information you need while raising the least amount of red flags possible. It isn't that you're paranoid, it's just that you're reasonably sure that Crockercorp has been monitoring computer usage for years, and you don't want to be found out and made to disappear before you get someone to listen to you.

Okay, yes, it sounds a bit paranoid when put that way. It doesn't mean that it's any less true, though.

Maybe searching for information on Crocker herself would be a good place to start, you think. Perhaps there's something in her past that you can use as a jumping off point. You're not sure what you're looking for, not exactly, which always puts a damper on research projects. All you can say is that you'll know it when you see it, and you can feel your mouth twist as you think the words. How trite.

The _About our Founder_ page on Crocker's website gives you nothing; likewise, articles about her in popular newspapers glorify the woman who pulled herself up by the straps of her own boots and gloss over the people she's trampled over with them since. It's not until you look her up on Wikipedia – good, faithful Wikipedia, home of misdirection, strange phrasing, and outright lies – that you hit pay dirt.

 _Opposition_ , the section title reads, and you scroll casually down the page instead of clicking the link that would take you straight there. Your heart is beating a little faster; your palm is a little clammy where it rests against the mouse. You're sure that if you wipe it against your skirt, you'll be noticed and thrown out of the library, possibly hunted down by the Crockercorp private jet and-

Okay. Your imagination is running away with you. You're not too proud to admit it.

The _Opposition_ section starts out talking about Crocker's longstanding rivalry with Duncan Hines, which ended in the late 50s with Hines' death. Wikipedia tells you he died of lung cancer; you're not going to accuse Crocker of murder, certainly not at this point, but it's public knowledge that Crockercorp acquired Hines' company for a pittance not long after his oh-so-timely demise. You nod to yourself and move on.

Most of the _Opposition_ section is filled with baking rivalries; they're all the same story, really, of Crocker feuding with the competition before quietly acquiring or assimilating them. It's part of the trend that you had noticed, how there's competition for every kind of business except cheap cake mixes and waxy icings. Apparently it's because Crocker has been taking care of anything that would stand in her way.

How nobody has noticed this, you aren't sure.

The last entry in the _Opposition_ section makes you stop scrolling. You don't let your eyes widen; you're not quite that much of an amateur. You are shocked, though, because this… this might actually be what you're looking for.

_Crocker's personal life has taken some bizarre turns. Over the course of several years, Jade English made more and more outlandish accusations against Crocker and her company, alleging that Crocker was "evil" and "manipulative." When the media largely ignored her, English went on to declare that Crocker was actually an alien. Naturally, this led to her being removed from the board of directors of her own company; attempts were made to have her evaluated at an institution, but nothing was ever reported to the media about it. Since this point, English has continued to allege that Crocker is, in fact, an alien bent on world domination._

_While many successful businesspeople have had wild accusations thrown at them throughout the course of their careers, this one in particular is noteworthy because English is Crocker's adopted daughter._

You can hardly believe what you're reading. Jade English's Wikipedia page is barely more than a stub, and there are large chunks of her life that are simply missing from the retelling. By "large chunks" you actually just mean the one significant chunk: there was a falling out between mother and daughter when Jade was in her teens, and there's nothing listed for the next twenty years, until she opened up her business in direct opposition to Crockercorp. A quick search on Jade English turns up a lot of crackpot theories about her mental state and even more armchair psychology; a glance is enough to tell you that the people writing said theories haven't ever seen the inside of a psychology textbook. It's not worth your time to look, so you keep scrolling.

Your eye catches on the third search result from the bottom. _**CLICK HERE FOR THE TRUTH!!!**_ it reads. You don't hesitate.

The page looks like something hosted on GeoCities in the early days of the internet; the background is black, and the text is bright green and almost cartoonish. There are more exclamation points than you're frankly comfortable with, but this is what you've been looking for.

Jade English's website.

There's a section for articles and another that links to a blog that hasn't been updated in several months; you quickly download the articles and save them to your flash drive to read later. It's strange reading through the blog, mostly because you always find that sort of thing strange; you don't really see the appeal of blogging. The thought of putting your diary online for anyone with a modem to see… you shudder. It doesn't bear thinking about. You hope that any messages you might have to leave behind would require a little thought to decipher, rather than just being thrown out there.

Jade English clearly doesn't feel the same; the entries that are relevant to your interests are mixed in alongside posts about her grandson, a boy named Jake who appears to be several years younger than you are. She appears to be a vigilant tagger, at least; you smirk when you realize that everything tagged "batterwitch" is Crocker-related. You copy those to your flash drive as well and clear the browser history. It wouldn't do to leave evidence of your snooping where anyone with a mind to check could find it.

You slip your flash drive into your pocket as you stand. For once, you can't wait to get home; even your mother's threats of a home-cooked meal aren't enough to keep you from wanting to race to the bus stop. It's an even day, so the bus makes every stop on the route, and it takes all of your not-inconsiderable self-control not to start tapping your foot or wringing your hands or something like that.

The flash drive feels as if it's burning a hole through your skirt. You use the frayed ends of your self-control to keep from smoothing your hand over it. Best not to draw attention to yourself.

You stand as the bus approaches your stop; for a heart-pounding few seconds the bus doesn't slow, and you think wildly _she knows, she knows and now I'm going to disappear_ , but suddenly the driver swears and slams on the brakes. You stumble into the wall before regaining your balance, and you don't acknowledge the bus driver's shouted apologies as you race down the street towards your house.

"Rosie?" your mother says as you run in and slam the door. "Gosh, sweetie, is everything okay?"

"Fine, Mother," you say, trying not to pant as you lock the door as surreptitiously as possible. "We're running the hundred-meter dash in gym next week. I figured I could use the practice."

Your mother's expression brightens as she salutes you with her martini glass. "Attagirl, Rosie. You kick everybody's butt, 'kay now?"

"Okay," you agree. "I'm going to go do my homework now. Call me when it's time to eat, please."

"It'll be ready in about an hour," she replies, winking at you. "Made my specialty."

You dread finding out what she's considering her specialty this week, but you nod and head for the stairs. You keep your pace even and steady, and before long you're safely in your own room.

Turning off the wifi on your laptop is definitely the work of your newly born sense of paranoia. It might be well-deserved; it might not. You're not chancing it either way. You pull the thumb drive from your pocket and hesitate before plugging it into the side of your laptop.

The files are just where you left them; it's the work of a few minutes to get them into a password-protected folder in the depths of your laptop's organizational hierarchy, and a little while longer to wipe the flash drive completely. When you're sure that you're as safe as safe can be, you steel yourself and open the first file.

Most of the articles are things in somewhat disreputable news outlets; a good deal of them cite Jade English as a source. There are a few tabloid clippings as well, and it's not that you're surprised that someone going up against Crockercorp would have to sink fairly low in order to get their point across, it's just that you were hoping for something a little more creditable than _The Enquirer_.

The articles paint an interesting story, though. Apparently Jade English was raised as Jade Crocker, and it wasn't until she ran away that she changed her name. English had been the name of one of Betty Crocker's enemies – another alien, Jade English insisted, but not the same kind, that would be silly – and so she'd adopted the name to annoy her mother. You read on, finding out more and more about the woman who dared to stand against Crockercorp.

The articles bring you to a few years ago, and once you've finished them you switch to the document with the blog posts in it. You have to spend several minutes reformatting the file just so you can read it; she's apparently fond of bright green text, and while you'd been able to read it against the black background of her website, the white background of your word processor is another matter entirely. Finally, though, you're able to delve into the blog posts of Jade English.

The woman seems eccentric, but she writes about several matters that have caught your attention. It's enough to make you keep reading it, and before long, you're caught up in her retelling of her story. She adds details that were left out of the articles you've read, and the more you read, the more convinced you are that she's telling the truth about all of it – about her awful childhood, her evil mother the alien, and above all, Crocker's plans to take over the world so she can use it as a breeding ground for her own species.

You realize that it sounds insane; it's just that it's also ringing true in ways that you've never quite experienced before. It feels as if Jade English's blog entries are confirming what you've known all along, and finding someone else who knows that something is rotten in the state of Crocker is an almost blinding relief.

The last entry that you'd copied is dated about four months ago. It's a worrisome little message, and you frown as you read it.

**i think the batterwitch might be hunting me D: D:**  
 **im pretty worried about jake**  
 **if she comes for me will she hurt him? i hope she doesn't but……..**  
 **it seems kinda likely**  
 **i need to draw her away from the house**

Your document ends after those lines, and you feel dread coiling in your stomach as you read them again and again. You're worried for Jade English, for this woman who keeps telling the world the truth even though nobody believes her, and you're worried for Jake, a boy who can't be more than ten years old, a boy who might have been hurt or worse because his grandmother dared to speak out.

You hesitate before closing out of the documents and turning your wifi back on. It takes a few moments of arguing with yourself before you find the courage to navigate back to Jade English's website, and longer still before you can make yourself click on the blog page. Perhaps she'd simply forgotten to use the "batterwitch" tag. Perhaps she's embroiled in a battle that has somehow not been picked up by every news channel in the world. Perhaps she's been ill, or Jake has, or…

You scroll down to the last "batterwitch" entry. There have been three posts since then, and they're all written in a slightly darker shade of green than usual. Now that you look at it, the format of the typing is different, too.

Hi this is jake. I dont know if anyone reads this but if you do please send help! Grandma is missing and im really worried!

Your stomach clenches again, but you force yourself to keep reading.

Something really awful happened.

That's it; there's nothing else in the entry. You don't want to know, but at the same time, you know that you have to find out.

Grandma is dead. I went looking for her when she didnt come home for a few days and i found her body. I think she got attacked by one of the monsters that lives here because she had three holes in her like something really big bit her.

Im really sad. I dont know what to do. Im all alone on the island now and im bad at hunting. Please send help.

You read the three messages again. They're all dated shortly after the last post that you had copied; none of them is more recent than three months ago. You deliberate about the possibility of contacting Jake; you're not sure what you can do to help him, if he's even still alive, and you definitely don't want to draw attention to yourself or your mother, but you can't exactly leave a defenseless child to be eaten by wild animals when there's a chance you could figure something out. It's the work of a few minutes to set up an anonymous email and screen name, and you leave a quick message on the latest post; with any luck, he'll be monitoring the blog and will get back to you.

With any luck, he's still around to do so. You're really hoping that you can help him, but you're also hoping that you can pick his brain for information about his grandmother. After all, you're going to need solid evidence if you're ever going to convince anyone else that Crockercorp is as bad as Jade English said it is.

She may have started the work, but she's no longer around to keep fighting. It's up to you now.


End file.
